Summary

Silver crucifix decorated with niello and mounted on a plain ebony cross, found in a bed in Queen Mary's room at Craigmillar Castle, Edinburgh, 15th or 16th century

Accession Number

H.KE 16

Other references

Original description

A crucifix of silver, decorated with niello, mounted on a plain ebony cross; the cross 3.05" x 2.1"; found at Craigmillar Castle, Edinburgh. Caption note, February 1993: 15th - 16th century, on modern backing. Caption note, March 1993: A silver plate on the back reads "Crucifix belonging to / Queen Mary of Scotland / found in Craig Millar Castle". It was found in a bed in "Queen Mary's room" in the castle (near Edinburgh) in or before 1815. It is a 15th or 16th century rosary crucifix, reproducing a Christ of the 12th century, perhaps some noted 12th century rood. The ebony cross and silver plate are later.//T. Deniozou note, 2011-02-18, Information taken from Glenn, Virginia, Romanesque & Gothic: Decorative Metalwork and Ivory Carvings in the Museum of Scotland, NMSE Publishing, Edinburgh, 2003: [One of] B1, C42, 41-2 [Angels, Nobles and Unicorns reference] //The small figure of Christ on the cross is crudely cast. He wears the crown of thorns and a short pleated perizoma, held at the waist by a folded cummerbund with a knot of three loops at his right hand side. His up-stretched arms are at an angle of about 45 degrees, his head slightly inclined to his right. The legs are widely bowed and crossed at the ankles, where they are held by a single nail. The crossbar of the crucifix has prominent fleur-de-lis terminals. A large inverted leaf shape with channels radiating downwards from the centre top supports Christ’s feet.//The whole is attached by three pins to a 19th-century plain ebony cross with a silver suspension ring at the top.//NOTES:1 A 19th-century silver plaque on the reverse of the ebony cross reads ‘Crucifix belonging to / Queen Mary of Scotland / found in Craig Miller Castle’.//2 PSAS, vol XCIV, 1963, 328. h 60, w 48, d 5 (silver crucifix); h 77, w 58, d 6 (ebony); diam 6 (ring).

Associated person/people (e.g. excavator/former collection)

Queen Mary of Scotland

Discovery / field collection

Date of discovery

Not recorded

Method (e.g. excavation)

Not recorded

Place (i.e. location of discovery)

Craigmillar, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland, Northern Europe

Grid reference

Not recorded

Acquisition

Acquisition date

1960

Acquisition source (i.e. name of donor)

Not recorded

Acquisition source role (e.g. donor)

Donor

Image